


Enjoy Your Power

by monkeymilktea



Category: inFAMOUS: Second Son, おそ松さん | Osomatsu-san (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Conduit AU, Crossover, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, not blmatsu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:23:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7026556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkeymilktea/pseuds/monkeymilktea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twenty years ago brought the discover of the Conduit gene; a dormant gene that, when active, gives the host superhuman abilities and powers. Many used their newfound powers for evil and with it brought fear and hate from humans. From this hate grew the influence of the Department of Unified Protection that began to round up or execute nearly all these Conduits.</p><p>Not all of them, of course.</p><p>Can six NEETs really save their city from marshal law without destroying it first?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi im monkey and this is jackass *makes 20 aus and dies*
> 
> one thing i wanted to point out before anyone starts was that i had only played the third infamous game so a LOT of the canon from the first two i used wiki & my own imagination for. so if it seems off, thats why!
> 
> this is my first fic posting onto ao3 but my second overall. feedback & critiques are always welcome!!

Nearly two decades ago brought the discovery of the Conduit gene, although completely by accident. When asked about its origins, however, the story always changes. One source adamantly insisted that a terror attack on civilians was the cause of the Conduit gene; another states that nearly all living beings carried the gene within them and that certain events could trigger a person into becoming what is known as a Conduit. Regardless who was right, Conduits now existed because of these events.

Conduits, like their namesake, have the ability to absorb certain aspects of matter (concrete, for example) and transform it to their will, much like how electricity brings light to a lamp through a circuit. They all also had surprising abilities such as super-strength and incredibly fast healing that made normal bullets completely useless against their bodies. Because of this, normal humans began to fear and hate the Conduits for their powers. “Freaks”, “monsters”, “Bio-terrorists” they cried out. Riots broke out over thousands of cities across the globe as normal people and Conduits fought. It was clear who would win; the Conduits were just superior to normal humans in almost every way.

From the ashes of these burned cities rose the powerhouse of an organization known as the Department of Unified Protection, or DUP for short. Lead by Brooke Augustine, an American soldier, the DUP was able to reach government approval to place cities under martial law while on their hunts for Conduits, now renamed Bio-terrorists. Slowly, each city started to see a smaller number of these Bio-terrorists, who have all been sent to quarantined areas to live the rest of their unnatural lives so as to not harm any normal humans ever again. Within the span of five years, nearly all Conduits had been captured or terminated.

Not all of them, of course.

Of course Matsuno Ichimatsu had to learn that the hard way.

 

It was an accident if he were to be honest; he didn’t truly understand what had made him lash out like that.

Ichimatsu was crouched in his usual spot in the shared living space in their home; a small, dark corner of the room where he could mope in peace like any other day. Today he felt…off. He had no idea why he felt so shitty today, however he supposed the source of his foul mood was what was sitting on the other side of the room, casually gazing into his reflection as he played with his hair. This small action ticked Ichimatsu off more than it should have. In fact, just looking at his brother’s god awful gaudy outfit made his stomach burn in disgust. Who ever heard of a tank top with your own face on it? Ridiculous.

He decided to instead go feed his alley cats than stay at home and glare at Karamatsu and get himself riled up. Just as he was about to leave, Painful decided to actually notice someone else was in the room with him and turned to watch Ichimatsu, setting his mirror down on the couch. “Where are you going, _brother_?” he asked in his usual way, grinning at his younger brother.

Ichimatsu gritted his teeth. “Out,” he grunted, hoping Karamatsu would take the hint that he had wanted to go out _alone_.

“Oh, going out to where? Shall I accompany my dear _brother_ today?” Karamatsu was already standing up and gathering his faux leather jacket to follow Ichimatsu out the door. Ichimatsu quickly snatched the other man’s arm by the elbow and halted his process. “I’m going out _alone_ ,” he clarified.

His brother seemed very disheartened to hear that, his brows scrunched up in worry as a frown took the place his usual grin, but he continued to insist. “Are you sure? You might get lonely and company could help—“ he was cut off mid-poetic by a hard shove from the grumpier man, livid anger now glowing in his lidded eyes. Now this? This was the final straw the broke the camel’s back. Where did he get off thinking his company of all people would help? The fourth Matsuno could feel his whole body shake. “I don’t need your fucking help, _Shittymatsu_.” Ichimatsu hissed, swinging his right hand to connect to Karamatsu’s face, hoping to catch him off balance and shock him long enough to escape the house before the other could catch up.

What Ichimatsu didn’t expect was to feel his fingers suddenly dig into Karamatsu’s cheek and tug harshly on his flesh. He felt something rip as Karamatsu was basically tossed across the room, rolled, then landed on his side, his back to Ichimatsu.

The room grew uncomfortably silent. For seconds that stretched on like hours no one moved an inch. Slowly, ever so slowly, Karamatsu sat up, twisting to look Ichimatsu with frightful eyes already brimming with tears. Ichimatsu quickly looked at the hand that struck his brother in horror. Color quickly drained from his already pale face.

Protruding from the tips of his fingers were black, sharp claws. He could clearly see the openings in his skin; as if his bones had broken through to the surface. He gulped before looking back to his brother.

Karamatsu seemed to be in shock as well, his hand already coming away from his face dotted in red. Ichimatsu could see three neat rows of cuts on the second brother’s face, scarring him. He stared at the bloodied hand for far too long, feeling sick.

He didn’t mean to do _that_! That wasn’t his intention at all!

Suddenly, Karamatsu ripped away his confused gaze from the red on his fingertips to stare directly into Ichimatsu’s eyes, pleading for an answer. The guilt settled in and felt like a weight on his chest that nearly choked the fourth Matsu. The way Karamatsu was looking at him, desperately hoping that this isn’t what he thought it was, the hurt in his expression, the absolute fear. It was all too much for Ichimatsu to bare and be bolted to the front door, snagging his sandals on his way out. He could hear the older of the two call out to him, but he didn’t bother listening and kept running.

He ran until he felt his chest would explode, burning his sides and lungs, desperate for oxygen. He only stopped once he arrived near a secluded alley that he frequents to feed his strays, the sky already reaching orange and red hues as the sun began to set. Once there, he hid himself behind one of the overflowing dumpsters, leaning on a wall to try and catch his breath, his arms and knees wobbling unstably.

His knees finally giving out, Ichimatsu sat with his back against the wall, leaning against the rubble around him. _That’s right,_ he thought to himself bitterly, _because I’m garbage. I belong here._ He felt like utter shit for what happened and he as mad. Mad that it was Shittymatsu’s fault for trying to get involved in his affairs and because of that he got hurt. _If he would have just left me alone, none of this would have happened! Now **I’m** the bad guy._

Glancing at his hand, the anger he felt was now replaced with guilt and fear. He brought the claws closer to his face to examine them closely. Yep, those are definitely real and definitely _his_. “Oh god,” he breathed out, his hand now shaking. “I’m one of ‘em. A fucking Bio-terrorist. Shit,” He swore under his breath when he felt tears prickle at his eyes. This was something that could not be fixed by ignoring; if anyone saw him like this they would call the DUP on him and send him away forever. He screwed his eyes shut and held onto his clawed hand as he tried to calm down.

Somehow, Ichimatsu was eventually able to retract the claws back into his fingers, leaving small slits on the tips as the only evidence that they were there to begin with. For now, he was going to have to keep them hidden until he could find a good alternative or a better lie.

With the last lights in the sky fading and leaving the fourth brother in the darker alley with only the lamp posts nearby to see, Ichimatsu decided to go back home. He didn’t want to, but he also did not want to worry Jyushimatsu with his absence. He would never hear the end of it from his younger brother. Huffing in irritation, he stood slowly, legs still like jelly from his ‘workout’, and stumbled back home for dinner.

By the time he had returned, all his brothers were present and had already began eating without him. Assholes. “I’m home,” he called out, trying to act like nothing has changed and that everything was normal. He took off his sandals and let himself in, closing the door behind him before returning his hands to his hoodie pockets. They will have to stay there for now.

There was a chorus of “welcome home”s from his brothers, some with their mouths full of food. Ichimatsu was surprised to find that his bowl had been set out for him already. Jyushimatsu must have done that, eagerly awaiting the other brother’s arrival. He took his seat and was immediately shocked at what sat across from him.

Sitting in his usual spot was Karamatsu, calming eating his dinner with a small grin, not looking at Ichimatsu at all. On his cheek was a gauze pad hiding the red scars where Ichimatsu had struck him earlier today. Ichimatsu suddenly didn’t feel very hungry.

“Hey, hey, Ichimatsu, did you hear about what happened to Karamatsu?” Asked Osomatsu loudly with his mouth full of food. Ichimatsu became tense until his eldest brother continued, “He was trying to find his ‘Karamatsu Girls’ to walk them home and ended up getting scratched in the face!” He laughed at his brother’s misfortune, said brother merely grinned sheepishly but said nothing.

Choromatsu, however, did not find the situation funny at all. “He’s lucky that woman didn’t charge him with sexual harassment!” Osomatsu laughed even harder at that and even Todomatsu snorted, despite the fact he was pretending to not be listening as he looked through his social media feeds from his phone. It always surprised Ichimatsu how he can eat and do that at the same time and not spill anything.

“Oh come on, it’s just Karamatsu! He may be painful but he isn’t _that_ bad,” Osomatsu paused and stared at said brother dead in the eyes. “Right?” Karamatsu sputtered at his older brother’s sudden serious face and spilled some of his dinner on himself. He coughed, “N-non non, nothing like that dear _brother_!” He seemed unnaturally calm now as if his food wasn’t dripping down his shirt and rested his hand to his chin in thought. “I only wanted to see my dear Karamatsu Girls home safely, but of course I cannot force my kindness onto—“ He was immediately cut off by the other fourth brothers crying out in pain, grunting and laughing at his painfulness.

Ichimatsu, however, was stunned. Did Karamatsu really just cover for him? That unbelievably kind asshole! Was he some kind of angel?! Ichimatsu wanted to rip his hair out; he turned it around on him! Now he feels even worse than before!

After that dinner had calmed down considerably; Osomatsu casually chatted with each brother about his day at the races and would ask about theirs. Choromatsu claimed to have been “job hunting” but Ichimatsu could clearly see his new Nyaa-Chan wallet peeking out from his pants pocket. Smooth. Todomatsu decided not to say much on what he did; last time he did that he got interrogated for not sharing. Instead, he told his brothers that he went to hang out with some friends which wasn’t a _complete_ lie.

As Jyushimatsu told the tale of him finally reaching a new record of thirty thousand homerun hitting swings today, enthusiastically reenacting his powerful stance and starting his count up all over again, everyone else was finishing their dinner and took their respective plates to the kitchen. Despite it being Osomatsu’s turn to clean the dishes, the responsibility was pushed onto his younger siblings as he made a B-line to their shared bedroom to get settled for the night, much to Choromatsu’s displeasure. Again, the responsibility fell onto him.

Ichimatsu, along with Todomatsu, followed in their eldest brother’s footsteps and snuck up to their bedroom while the third Matsuno ranted about how he was the only responsible one in the house as he cleaned the dishes.

By the time Ichimatsu and his youngest sibling were changed into their pajamas, Jyushimatsu had returned as fast as a rocket upstairs, nearly kicking the door down. He body slammed into their futon (it was Ichimatsu and Todomatsu’s turn to take it out anyways) and into the body that laid there already lightly snoring. The body, Osomatsu, bolted up, immediately awake and ready to tussle with Jyushimatsu with a smirk on his face.

When Ichimatsu left it looked like Osomatsu was winning, but Jyushimatsu quickly put him into an octopus hold, rendering him immobile. Ichimatsu huffed, exhausted from the day and made his way to the bathroom. Instead of an empty bathroom like he hoped, he found Karamatsu who was in front of the cabinet mirror, dabbing a cotton ball with what Ichimatsu assumed to be rubbing alcohol on the scars on his face. Ichimatsu felt himself flinch at the sight.

Sensing movement from his peripherals, Karamatsu stood up straight and gave his younger brother a warm smile. “Is something the matter, _brother_?” he asked. Ichimatsu balled his fists tightly to keep the claws from coming out again. He needed to calm down and apologize. It was the right thing to do.

He took a deep breath, but it caught in his throat. “I—“ he began but cut himself off, noticing that Karamatsu was staring at him now. Ichimatsu’s face went hot in embarrassment and frustration. Damnit, why was apologizing to his own brother for clawing his fucking face so hard?! Ichimatsu grounded his teeth together and entered the bathroom, pushing Karamatsu. “Hurry up, I need to shit.” Was all he could say, his throat felt too tight. Karamatsu didn’t seem phased and quickly put a new gauze pad on his face and he made his way back out without a word.

Once everyone was settled in and the lights in their room turned off, Ichimatsu found it was hard to fall asleep. He turned his back to Karamatsu because he couldn’t stop staring at the gauze on his cheek that _he_ caused. The fourth Matsuno thought that, hopefully, his guilt would go away once he stopped looking at his brother, like it usually did. This time it was different. Ichimatsu was a Bio-terrorist and Karamatsu is now a sympathizer for not ratting him out to the DUP.  

In fact, if someone were to notice and contact the DUP, his whole family would be interrogated on why they were “hiding” a Bio-terrorist in their home. Ichimatsu had only hear passing rumors on just how terrible those interrogations were.

Sighing inwardly, Ichimatsu brought his hand to his face. He extended his claws to their fullest in the darkness of the room. With his claws out, the room suddenly seemed brighter, as if the moon was closer to the window. Was is a part of his abilities? He heard that Conduits usually had more to their so called “powers” than what meets the eye. Seeing in the dark would definitely be handy he supposed.

He quickly retracted his claws when he heard movement from the other side of the room. He strained his ears to hear what the noise was as he pretended to be fast asleep.

On where he assumed was the middle of the room, Ichimatsu could hear muffled noises and heavy breathing, the ruffling sound of the blanket fabric folding with movement was almost deafening. It felt like forever before he heard a gasp and felt the blanket tighten to that spot. Taking a risk, Ichimatsu rolled over and opened one eye.

Sitting up in the darkness with his hands in his sweat covered face was Osomatsu, breathing deeply, trying to calm his fast beating heart. Ah, must have been another nightmare. Before he could get up to see if he could talk with his brother and calm him down, the other was already dropping himself back in his spot, needing no assistance whatsoever. The soft snores returned moments later. No one else seemed all that perturbed, only a soft voice that he knew was Todomatsu’s telling Osomatsu to move over cut through the night.

Rolling back around, Ichimatsu stared back at his hand. The feeling of uselessness creeped up on him and it was hours before he would succumb to sleep.

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is a lil short & the next one might be even shorter but after that the chapters will get longer i promise! enjoy!

The sun was so unbearably hot that morning that Ichimatsu contemplated on just staying in bed all day. At least, until Choromatsu lightly kicked him in the back. “Get up, Ichimatsu; we need to put the futon away.” He said, already dressed for the day.

Ichimatsu groaned and reluctantly got up. He helped Choromatsu put away the futon and marked his name off of the dry erase board in their room full of their chores for the day. He didn’t feel like staying home and cleaning the toilet. Instead, he got dressed and quickly made his way out before Choromatsu could stop him. Which wasn’t apparently an issue, seeing as he had already left down the opposite direction of where Ichimatsu was headed. Good.

Seems the others had already fucked off somewhere else too. Despite wanting to stay home by himself (a luxury among the sextuplets) he knew he had other responsibilities today. Things he promised himself to do.

Strolling down to the local grocery store, Ichimatsu bought cans of cat food and sardines as treats for any of his furry fellows that decide to tag along with him for the night. There was a rule about keeping pets in the house, but since all the cats Ichimatsu brought home were technically strays, his parents didn’t say much except to clean their messes and return them.

Ichimatsu arrived at his destination just in time; four very hungry and mangy looking cats started to crowd around the now empty dishes he left out for them earlier that week, meowing loudly when Ichimatsu approached. He quickly opened the cans of wet cat food and went about filling the plates. The cats began to dig in hungrily, hardly taking a moment to break for air.

Sighing, the fourth Matsuno crouched in front of the cats and watched them scarf down their breakfast. He started thinking about his own cat-like abilities. He thought back on Karamatsu, who was the only one that knew about them and decided to remain silent about it. But for how long? He isn’t exactly the best liar in the family; with enough pressure from the other four brothers (and possibly their parents) he would crack like an egg under a brick. _Splat_.

After further consideration, Ichimatsu found that, even if his whole family were know, they would most likely also keep his abilities a family secret. The DUP didn’t have a strong presence in Akatsuka Prefecture, despite being so close to the inner city of Tokyo, but all it would take is one phone call to their headquarters and Ichimatsu would be shipped off to the nearest quarantined zone.

He shuddered at the thought. It truly was terrifying to have everything you thought you knew and the monotony you grew so accustomed to be threatened by something you could not help. Ichimatsu trained his eyes to stare at the cats to keep his emotions in check. However, that small, feral part of him won out, the need to scream became unbearable. He stood up quickly and spooked his cat friends, all of them scattering in different directions.

Claws out, Ichimatsu started swiping at the brick wall to his left out of frustration. He clawed and carved into the wall all his fears and guilt. Why did he have to be this? Was he truly that despicable that he was being punished? He was breathing harder now, exerting himself but he didn’t care. Maybe he could claw until the unnatural nails become nothing but dull nubs and he wouldn’t have to be so fucking scared.

He stopped when he felt his arms were going to fall off and observed his handiwork while trying to catch his breath. The brick had multiple swipes and claw marks in varies directions, the color that had been stained from years of misuse was scrubbed right off, revealing nearly white cement underneath. Ichimatsu couldn’t say he felt proud of his vandalism; he was tired, sore, and desperately wanted to just go home.

“Nii-san?”

Spinning around so fast Ichimatsu felt his neck pop, he came eye-to-eye with none other than Jyushimatsu; his baseball uniform was covered from head-to-toe in dirt and grass stains. He must have finished his practice earlier than usual. That, or Ichimatsu was gone longer than he had originally thought.

Thinking fast, the older of the two shoved his hands into his pocket and feigned nonchalance at the encounter despite being coated in sweat. Jyushimatsu seemed worried. He didn’t look worried, what with his large smile plastered on his face and his wide stance, but the air around him and Ichimatsu was very tense. All became quiet as Jyushimatsu waited for his brother to reply. It never came.

Taking matters into his own hands, the fifth Matsuno calmly made his way to his brother so as to not spook him off like his furry companions had been and gently laid his hands on Ichimatsu’s arms from outside of his pockets. He didn’t move, waiting for the okay from Ichimatsu himself.

While very tense, Ichimatsu conceded to his younger brother and slowly removed his hands from his pockets, allowing both to see the damage he had done.

The scars from his early onslaught weren’t that bad (not as bad as Karamatsu’s) but they stung and could get infected if not treated soon. Thankfully, Ichimatsu’s claws had retracted into their little homes, but the slits stayed. They almost looked like splinters if he played his cards right. He wasn’t sure if Jyushimatsu would really fall for it though, but he was definitely not prepared to tell him that he was a Bio-terrorist—a monster of the night that everyone feared and hated.

“Does it hurt?” Jyushimatsu asked, gently lifting his older brother’s hands to inspect them closely for any inflammation. He was nervous; something was wrong with Ichimatsu but he knew he shouldn’t try to push for answers since that could push him away instead.

Ichimatsu grunted, “Yeah, a bit.” He tried to take his hands back, feeling self-conscious now. Jyushimatsu’s grip tightened slightly, not enough to hurt him, but enough to keep him from escaping. Jyushimatsu looked directly into the other Matsuno’s lidded eyes and tugged his wrists high into the air, his energy returning once more.

“Hey, hey! We should go home and clean you up, Nii-san!” with that conviction, he dragged his sibling back home who could barely keep up in time with his steps.

Once they had both returned to their home and kicked off their shoes, Jyushimatsu pushed Ichimatsu up the stairs to their bathroom and sat him down on the toilet like their mother used to do when one of them nicked their knees or elbows while playing as children. Ichimatsu suddenly felt very small and vulnerable. He hated having people help him or baby him, but he decides to let it slide when Jyushimatsu dropped a small box onto his lap and a bottle of anti-bacterial ointment.

“There you go, Nii-san!!” Jyushimatsu smiled, pleased with himself. He let himself out of the bathroom but not before looking back to Ichimatsu. “I am going to change and head out for a bit; you better have your hands cleaned up by the time I come back, muscle!” and like a missile he torpedoed out of the room, making sure to close the door for Ichimatsu’s privacy, and was gone.

Finally alone, Ichimatsu inspected the box on his lap and found they were Jyushimatsu’s neon band aids that came in all sorts of annoyingly bright colors. Tearing away from the eyestrain, the fourth brother began his search for a cleaning pad and ran his hands under cold water. The sting wasn’t so bad now, but once he put the ointment on his open wounds, Ichimatsu couldn’t stop the whimper from leaving his mouth. He’s had worse and yet he couldn’t stand the itch or burn that came from it. He huffed, how pathetic.

It took nearly two minutes to clean the cuts on his hands and cover them in his brother’s obnoxious band aids, though he felt kind of nice that Jyushimatsu could somehow tell he didn’t want to be babied. That’s what he likes about him the most—he can read the atmosphere and just _knows_ how to deal with most problems.

However, looking into the slits in his fingers, Ichimatsu knew that the other brother could not deal with this certain problem of his. He extended his claws once more and found they were, unfortunately, still intact, without a single imperfection. Although, looking at the box of band aids still open on the sink, it gave Ichimatsu an idea.

After five more minutes of binding the tips of his fingers, he felt he had found his “alternative” solution. He was such a genius! He can use this as a ruse so his family wouldn’t find out! He could almost cry in relief.

When Ichimatsu opened the door to leave, however, he was met face-to-face with the person he least of all needed to see that day.

Karamatsu stared, hand dumbly hovering where the doorknob used to be, surprised to find the door swing wide open to reveal Ichimatsu mid-step out the bathroom. He caught himself and grinned to his brother. “Hello, dear Ichimatsu! I had assumed I was the only one who had returned to early; but I suppose I am wrong, no?” Ichimatsu glared at him but it lost some of its edge when he saw the gauze pad.

He remembered the expression on Karamatsu’s face; hurt, fear, and confusion. He remembered his guilt. He could feel the claws try to dig themselves out of his band aids but willed them away. He needed to swallow his pride and he needed to do it now.

“Shitty—I mean, Karamatsu,” He started, not making eye contact with the other, but he definitely felt the other’s eyes on him, hanging onto every word. Ichimatsu shifted awkwardly before stepping out slowly, continuing. “I, uh, I owe you an apology.” He peeked a look at the second son and found the other was stunned, eyes wide behind his shades. Ignoring the sharp pain he suddenly felt in his side, Ichimatsu continued again. “I’m sorry for fuckin’ up your face. It wasn’t really my intention, I didn’t mean to, I—I didn’t know…” He trailed off after stumbling over his words, a lump forming in this throat. He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

_I didn’t know I was a Conduit._

_I didn’t know I was going to hurt you that badly._

_I didn’t know I was a monster._

The apology, despite being pretty half-assed in Ichimatsu’s opinion, seemed to cheer Karamatsu up; he was practically beaming at his younger brother. Ichimatsu prepared himself for some painful one-liner or for him to go off on some poetic, one man circle-jerk about the importance of forgiveness. Instead, Karamatsu gave him a soft pat on the shoulder and one of the most genuine smiles he’d seen from the other in years before taking his place in the bathroom, leaving Ichimatsu alone in the hallway.

Well, not completely alone.

“Nii-san!! I’m back!!”

Hearing the tale-tail thumps of Jyushimatsu bounding up the stairs, Ichimatsu was surprised to find a fairly large cat from the alley in his little brother’s arms.

Jyushimatsu took his silence as a platform to speak, “I found you a friend for today, Nii-san! He’s the fattest and fluffiest one and will be so warm when you cuddle.” He explained, handing the ball of orange and white fluff over to Ichimatsu, who graciously accepted his gift, nodding in thanks.

He figured he just may take a nap after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such a long pause! updates may be slow for a while but i am working on them! please enjoy and feedback is always appreciated

It had been a week since the discovery of Ichimatsu’s powers and Karamatsu did not know what to do.

He was currently seated in their upstairs bedroom couch this morning, deep in thought with his blue pocket mirror in front of him as a way of distracting himself from thinking about the whole ordeal. There hadn’t been another “accident” since then so he should stop thinking about it and go back to how things were before. Ichimatsu had even started to be kinder to him! (Though his insults were still there they didn’t have their usual bite). Karamatsu needed to just _stop thinking about it_.

_Don’t think about it._

_Don’t think about it_

_Don’t—_

Shit, he was thinking about it. He couldn’t get the image out of his head; black, sharp claws extending from Ichimatsu’s fingertips, the fear in his eyes because he knew what they meant. They both did. Karamatsu was so afraid that he wouldn’t come back home at all until he saw his younger brother safe and sound that evening. He was so relieved but felt he should try to distance himself from the other Matsuno. Not that he was purposefully avoiding him (like he was now) but he figured the fourth brother needed some space. Last time he tried to provide assistance had given him three claw marks on his face.

Karamatsu knew what he has been taught since he was a child—Bio-terrorists were evil monsters that destroyed cities and harmed humans. He knew that the Department of Unified Protection was made to control the panic caused by Conduits and trap them. He knew that if there was ever a case of someone, even a family member, being a Conduit you were supposed to call their service hotline until the problem was dealt with. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to turn in his own brother. It suddenly felt very unfair.

He sighed into the mirror, breath fogging his reflection. He also knew that he couldn’t hide this secret from his other brothers for much longer. He was terrible at keeping secrets and even worse at lying. Eventually he was going to break and tell his brothers, he has to tell them, has to—

_No!_

Karamatsu viciously shook his head of the thought. He could never do that to Ichimatsu; it was his burden to bare and when he feels like it is time to tell their siblings about his secret (even if that was never), the second born would be by his side and support him through it, though deep down he had a feeling it wouldn’t be necessary. His family loved Ichimatsu very much, after all; they would be there for him and promise not to call in the DUP.

But that didn’t guarantee someone outside of the family would.

Karamatsu’s thick eyebrows knotted themselves together. Now that was something to worry about. What if someone were to learn that Ichimatsu was a Conduit? He can’t keep wearing Jyushimatu’s band aids forever; eventually he’ll have to stick to just hiding his hands, but will that be enough? It worried Karamatsu to his core, his mirror lightly shaking in his hands. He could feel his breath quicken in panic. Maybe he should go find Ichimatsu? Where was he today anyways? Playing baseball with Jyushimatsu?

He calmed his breath; yes, that’s right. Today was Tuesday, so they were at the baseball park together. They were fine. Ichimatsu was fine. Karamatsu let out a breath in short relief. Is this what it felt like to be Osomatsu, constantly worrying over his younger brother’s locations? He never truly had to experience that kind of stress before, taking the lead in this kind of situation. It was no wonder the eldest had so many night terrors.

The grip on his mirror tightened. This was something that he’s always wanted—a chance to be the “big brother”, to help and comfort his younger brothers in need. But, this was too much for him. He felt like he could burst at any moment. This was something that not even the oldest out of the six could handle alone.

It was this moment that Karamatsu felt truly alone in his worries. Sure, he was ignored a lot by his brothers and had felt that kind of loneliness, but this kind of solitude was suffocating. The anxiety returned in full force and Karamatsu felt as if his whole body was being dragged forward.

_I want to disappear._

A bright blue light suddenly enveloped Karamatsu’s body and within moments he vanished, his prized mirror discarded unceremoniously on the couch.

 

 

It was late in the afternoon when Osomatsu returned home. He had spent most of his day hanging out with Choromatsu and harassing him to play with him until the younger gave him a hard smack and demanded he leave him alone.

 _Whatever, idols are dumb anyways. She wasn’t even that cute,_ he thought to himself bitterly, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head. Choromatsu was so boring! And none of his other little brothers wanted to play with Onii-chan! It was an outrage, Osomatsu thought.

Heaving a sigh, the oldest Matsuno went straight to the kitchen to find a snack to tide him over until dinner before making his way to the upstairs bedroom. He still had a comic to finish so he might as well do that until his brothers came home for him to bug them.

He was ready to plop himself down on the couch and get his reading on when he noticed a very peculiar item, resting innocently in the middle of the couch. Osomatsu made a face before slowly approaching said item and picking it up. “Huh, Karamatsu left his mirror here,” he said to himself as he observed the back, sunlight from outside the open window reflecting off of the bedazzled item and effectively blinding Osomatsu momentarily.

Blinking his eyes to rid himself of the pain he felt from the mirror, the eldest Matsuno began to devise a prank/revenge plan on both Karamatsu for leaving his precious mirror unattended, and on Karamatsu’s mirror for being a painful piece of garbage.

Rubbing his index finger under his nose in typical Osomatsu-fashion, he flipped the mirror over to admire himself and his full-proof plan for fun. Only, it wasn’t his reflection staring back at him.

Inside the mirror was a tear-stained Karamatsu, uselessly beating his fist against the opposite side of the reflection and shouting for his older brother, but no words would escape the barrier between them.

 “Shit…!”

Osomatsu dropped the mirror onto the floor, falling backwards onto his rear trying to back away from the accursed object. Suddenly, a blue light filled the room and blinded the oldest for the second time that day. Blinking away the spots in his vision, Osomatsu could finally see Karamatsu emerge from the mirror in a blue glow before finally forming again into his solid, painful self.

Karamatsu looked completely shaken; kneeled over, he tried to dry his tears as fast as he could but his hands were shaking too much. Instead, he opted for just hugging himself as he tried to calm his breathing. His heart fluttered uncomfortably in his ribcage and he was certainly started feel lightheaded from it.

Looking around the room, Karamatsu noticed that his only older brother was still in there with him, staring silently at him in shock. _Ah, so this must have been what Ichimatsu felt that day…_

The second son reached out with a shaky arm to Osomatsu, “B-brother…pl-plea-se..,” he felt a hiccup choke him when Osomatsu instead backed away even further to the opposite side of the bedroom farther away from him. Tears began to fill Karamatsu’s vision but wouldn’t dare spill.

“Kara, you’re…you’re—“ Karamatsu screwed his eyes shut as hard as he could, stars blooming under the lids.

“You’re a Bio-terrorist.” Osomatsu said barely whisper but Karamatsu still heard it, the thing he had been dreading this whole encounter. So it was true; he, too, is a Conduit like Ichimatsu. However, unlike Ichimatsu, Karamatsu had Osomatsu find him out and inadvertently saved him from his own…condition.

 Karamatsu broke into a sob, clutching his face in shame and fear. There was no way his family would accept him like this! It was already hard enough to be accepted as he was, but now that he had this _affliction_ that was much harder to control or understand than clawed nails there was no way in hell they wouldn’t call the DUP on him. Hell, Ichimatsu would probably be the one to call them himself!

In his panic, Karamatsu failed to notice that he had shattered his small mirror and thousands of sharp, small shards now swirl around his being almost like a protective shell. Osomatsu had noticed and immediately stood up in alert. “H-hey! Karamatsu, calm down!” he said with a shaky voice, taking an experimental step forward only to be cut on his arm by a stray shard. It stung but was nothing more than a small papercut.

He hissed in pain but took another step forward to Karamatsu. The other was in obvious need of his big brother and Osomatsu had screwed it up. The mirror shard shield around the younger of the two began to swirl faster, scraping the couch and the bookshelf in its wake. Osomatsu bit his lip and stepped closer, a shard cutting his across his nose, “Karamatsu, hey!” He called out again with much more vigor.

Closing the gap between them, Osomatsu kneeled down and tightly embraced his younger brother on the floor, patting his back a bit awkwardly at first before making comforting circles instead. “Hey, hey, it’s ok. It’s gonna be ok, Nii-san’s gotcha,” He said in the softest voice he could possibly make.

As sudden as it started, the flying shards of mirror glass suddenly stopped, floating stagnant in the air, reflecting the dying evening lights from outside the nearby window. Karamatsu hiccupped, gulping in air as he tried to calm down but instead clung to his older brother like a lifeline and sobbed into his hoodie, staining it with his fat tears.

Osomatsu shushed him and held Karamatsu for a long time until the other’s cries became small whimpers of “I’m so sorry,” and “I’m a monster,” which prompted Osomatsu to shush him more, not wanting to hear his younger brother say such things.

 When Karamatsu pulled away his eyes were red and puffy, snot running down his nose and he seemed very tired. Osomatsu bent down some more to pick up the other’s sunglasses, which had flown off during his panic attack, and replaced them on the other’s face, purposefully askew.

“There you go, there’s my painful little brother.” Osomatsu said, smiling and rubbing the underside of his nose. Karamatsu couldn’t help but give him a weak smile back, fixing his shades to sit properly on his nose. “Th-thank you, Osomatsu nii-san,” he croaked out, throat raw.

Osomatsu nodded, pleased at being called ‘nii-san’ after getting used to hearing his brother’s terrible English. “Say, Karamatsu?”

“Yes, _brother_?” Ahh, the moment was gone. Oh well.

The eldest pointed above where the fragments of Karamatsu’s mirror remained suspended in the air, as if time had stopped completely for them. “Do you mind putting these things away? They’re making me nervous,” He laughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Karamatsu’s eye widened behind his shades as he gazed up at the chaos above the both of them. “Ah, my apologies, uh…” He gulped looking at the sharp pieces and willed for them to return to his mirror. At first nothing happened and he began to panic again and wished with all of his heart that the shards would return to his mirror. He sighed in relief when he felt the shards respond and watched them all collect together into his hand mirror, long since forgotten on the floor, and restored itself to its former glory with neither a crack nor scratch to indicate any form of damage.

Osomatsu, letting out a breath he was holding, took Karamatsu by the hand and lead his still shaken brother to the scarred couch and sat him down. The damage wasn’t too bad; their home had seen much worse over the years of holding six rowdy boys, so the furniture was bound to be durable, or at least easily replaceable.

The room became oddly silent but it didn’t feel strained. Osomatsu wanted to give Karamatsu some time to calm down before asking any question (and boy did he have questions). A few minutes passed before Karamatsu’s breathing was normal and Osomatsu decided it was time for answers.

“How long have you known?” He asked, letting the worry he felt show on his face.

Karamatsu looked at him, then his hands. He looked backed again with wide eyes, “Just this morning, _my brother_. One moment I was seated here,” He patted the torn couch. “Then the next I was trapped in my own mirror.” He gave a chuckle, looking away from his brother. “Heh, it’s ironic, isn’t it? A true Narcissus… falling in love with my beauty only to drown in my own reflection.”

Osomatsu gave a sharp yelp when he felt a pain in his ribs and doubled over laughing. “S-so painful!” he cried out, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. He rested his hand gently on Karamatsu’s shoulder, “So you just found out by accident? How did it happen?” He asked in a strained voice, deciding to move topics for now.

Karamatsu nodded, “Yes, I was, um…” he grew very reluctant to tell Osomatsu about his worries over Ichimatsu. He promised himself he wouldn’t tell a soul until he was ready but…there wasn’t much of a point in hiding it now. Besides, even if he did, Osomatsu would probably see right through him (unless he gave him money, but he was currently broke).

“I have been worrying about Ichimatsu lately,” He relented. Osomatsu gave him his full attention, turning to make direct eye contact with Karamatsu. “What’s going on with Ichimatsu?” Osomatsu asked in a serious tone. Karamatsu couldn’t stop the chuckle that erupted from his throat. “He has the same…condition as I do,” He leaned in closer and whispered, as if the walls around them were listening in. “He is a Conduit.”

Osomatsu blinked owlishly before letting out an ‘ooooh’ in understanding. “Does he also get trapped in mirrors?” he asked. The other brother shook his head, “No, no. He has, um—“ he curled and uncurled his fingers repeatedly, mimicking a cat. “—He has claws come out of his fingers. I’m not sure if there’s more to it than that, however.” He said, keeping his hands in their pose.

“Really? That’s pretty cool, actually.” Osomatsu said, “I mean, the mirror thing is okay, but claws are fuckin’ wicked!”

Karamatsu stared at him for a moment. “Ah, yes. Ichimatsu doesn’t seem too keen on them, though.” The older of the two nodded in agreement. Then an idea came to him. “Hey, wait,” Osomatsu crossed his arms and gave the other a stern look. “Just when were you two going to tell the rest of us about your powers? Huh?”

The second Matsuno ducked his head and scratched his neck awkwardly, looking away from the older Matsuno. “Heh, we, um… weren’t really, ah, planning on…telling you guys,” He quickly snapped up to look at Osomatsu, “I-I mean! I didn’t really have the right to tell you about Ichimatsu’s…condition,” he said the last part quietly, almost a whisper. Just saying the word ‘Conduit’ out loud made his tongue feel like sandpaper. “And I have only just found out about mine.”

Osomatsu hummed in thought before smacking Karamatsu in the back of the head. “You guys need to tell the rest of us! There should be no secrets amongst brothers!” he locked Karamatsu in a headlock and proceeded to give his little brother a rather rough noogie. “You have to promise to tell the others!”

Karamatsu cried out and wrestled with the other Matsuno before finally freeing himself from his grasp. “O-okay! I will, I will tell the others!” he promised without much resolve.

“ _Absolutely not_.”

The two brothers froze at the new voice that had joined them and looked towards the door, now wide open. Standing outside of the door was a rather tired looking Ichimatsu whose hardened eyes looked like he was ready to kill. He must have returned from baseball with Jyushimatsu.

Karamatsu tried to explain what had happened when Ichimatsu interrupted, glaring daggers at him “Did you tell Osomatsu nii-san.” It came out as more of a statement rather than a question.

The second born’s eyebrows narrowed at the crude accusation. “I did not have a choice, my dear _brother_ ,” he said slowly. Karamatsu stood, picking up the discarded mirror from the floor before stepping in front of his younger brother, who looked ready to retort. Raising the mirror beside him, Karamatsu placed his hand on the reflective surface, concentrating on using his new ability. At first nothing happened and Ichimatsu became even more irritated, his hair standing on their ends until a bright blue glow creeped up Karamatsu’s arm, the arm quickly vanishing within the mirror. “We have the same affliction I’m afraid.” He sighed, quickly pulling his arm out before he disappeared again, the lights fading away as he did.

Ichimatsu was silent for what felt like hours, clenching and unclenching his fingers where Osomatsu could clearly see Jyushimatsu’s bright band aids covering his fingers. That must be where his claws are, he figured.

Standing up, the eldest of the three in the room made his way over to his brothers, now in a staring competition. “How about this,” He said, smirking. “I won’t tell anyone about you guys being Bio-terr—er, I mean, Conduits.” Osomatsu rubbed his nose at his slip up, but continued. “But, you guys have to promise that you’ll eventually tell the others.” He could see Ichimatsu stiffen and Karamatsu moved his gaze downwards.

Osomatsu wrapped his arms around both his brother’s shoulders. “We’re all brothers; no secrets, remember?” He gave them each a smile and a wink before feeling either of them relax in his grip.

Downstairs, Jyushimatsu loudly greeted Todomatsu at the door, thumping on the floods as he followed the youngest around.

Osomatsu let the two brothers go. Even if they didn’t say it, they would eventually come around and let everyone know about their powers. Still, it didn’t sit right that _two out of six_ of them were Conduits and it made him worry.

His worry was dispelled when he watched Ichimatsu and Karamatsu descend the stairs into the living room to great their brothers and talk about their days.

 _They will be fine_ , Osomatsu thought as he followed suit with his usual grin hiding his creeping anxiety. He hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive been planning on making an askblog abt this au if anyone is interested ;u; it can go deeper into the lore or u can ask questions about things you dont understand & such. lemme know!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaah sorry this is a bit late! ive been having connection issues w/ my internet which has made it very hard to post this chapter.   
> on that note, im rather pleased w/ how this turned out!  
> also, the askblog is now open!! ask ichimatsu & karamatsu (and even osomatsu!) questions about their powers or the world around them!  
> http://askconduitmatsus.tumblr.com/

Osomatsu never used to have an issue with nightmares; as a child he always had sweet dreams of mischief with his brothers and hardly any nightmare he had would have him spooked. It wasn’t until after high school graduation that night terrors became a normal occurrence and each time he would always forget the events that unfolded in his unsettled mind. If he couldn’t remember, it wasn’t important though, right?

That was what he thought until he suddenly started to remember his dreams. They were the same dreams he would have for nearly a whole week; Ichimatsu and Karamatsu being taken away by the Department of Unified Protection, forever. Sometimes the dreams were peaceful, where the two would leave after tearful goodbyes to the whole family with their hands and feet cuffed and in moments were gone, leaving an emptiness in Osomatsu in his dream. Sometimes the dreams were violent, where one or both of the Conduit brothers would fight back and get severely hurt, or worse trying to protect each other and their freedom. Osomatsu hated those dreams the most.

One dream he remembered vividly was Karamatsu taking Ichimatsu and running away together. _“To the countryside,”_ Karamatsu of the dream had said, tears streaming down his cheeks as he held a duffle bag with one hand and Ichimatsu’s in the other. _“It is safer there.”_ Osomatsu’s dreamself could feel his chest tighten and wanted to yell for them to stay, _we can protect you both dammit!_ But, just like dreams, he simply let them go and watched them fade down the hazy street in the early morning rain.

However, in the real world with his real brothers things were… almost normal. Karamatsu still wore his painfully “perfect” fashion and used his weird way of speaking and Ichimatsu still kept up the insults and his obligation to those street cats every day. Things were almost as they were before, yet something was decidedly different.

Ichimatsu, although still insulting Karamatsu, seemed to be including him more and more in his usually private activities. Whenever he would play baseball or go for walks with Jyushimatsu or go out of the house to buy more treats for his cats, he would invite Karamatsu to join him. The other three brothers who were still in the dark made no comment on it, but Osomatsu could see a few raised eyebrows before they went back to their own activities.

Karamatsu himself seemed to almost close himself off in the past week; he hardly left the house by himself anymore and when someone was able to get him to leave, his gaze would always be lowered to the ground, trying his best to not look into any reflective surfaces lest he traps himself again like last time.

Choromatsu was the first to ask his older brother what had been bothering him one day. “You don’t go out as much as you used to, Karamatsu nii-san. I’m a little worried; is something the matter?” he had asked earnestly, mouth turned downward into a V shape. Karamatsu frantically searched around the bed room from his seat on the arm of the (now cleaned up) couch for any excuse he could muster. His eyes landed on Osomatsu, who was sitting upside down against the wall opposite of him, and silently pleaded for something, anything, to fool the third brother.

“He’s been spending more time with me,” Osomatsu said suddenly with an upside down grin, “No one else ever wants to play with poor Onii-chan anymore! And Karamatsu was so kind as to spend time with me in my time of need.” Karamatsu withheld his sigh of relief and went with it, “Yes, of course!” He beamed past Choromatsu to Osomatsu, “I could never let the grips of loneliness take hold of any of my dearest _brothers_ , so I have decided to spend more quality, big brother time with Osomatsu nii-san!”

Choromatsu gave a pained expression at his older brother’s speech. “Well, ok then. I Guess I worried over nothing.” He said, a bit peeved that it wasn’t something more serious as he had thought. Osomatsu swung himself up right and grinned up at Choromatsu, rubbing his nose in his typical way. “Yeah, it’s no big deal, Fappymatsu! You worry too much.” He was met with a burning glare from the third Matsuno for the inappropriate nickname before the other stormed off downstairs. Osomatsu gave Karamatsu a thumbs up and he in return visibly relaxed.

To Osomatsu, Karamatsu was definitely the most nervous about his abilities; he was almost afraid of his own power, while Ichimatsu, on the other hand, grew much more comfortable with his. He had already started kneading his claws into some of Karamatsu’s clothes (“What? No, I have no idea why your sequined pants have holes in them all of a sudden. Stop asking me these questions, Shittymatsu.”) And into the living room couch as well.

“Ah! Where did all these claw marks come from?” Todomatsu had asked on a different occasion after nearly sinking into the couch that Ichimatsu also occupied, but stopped when he noticed the scratches and holes on the back of the arm rest, almost impossible to see at first glance.

The fourth brother froze at the sudden accusation, despite the question not quite directed at him specifically, and he curled up into himself and held his hands together tightly.

Luckily, Osomatsu was also in the room, casually watching the T.V. (originally the News but he quickly changed it to a cartoon with a hippo-like creature once a certain story had come on that made him uncomfortable) and he acted quickly. Looking around the room, Osomatsu spotted a small, thin feline curled up next to some old newspapers in the corner, breathing deeply in sleep. The eldest Matsuno only felt a little pity when he picked the creature up, waking it up in the process, and brought it over to Ichimatsu.

“Hey, Ichi, you should really train these kitties that if they wanna stay in our house they can’t destroy our furniture, okay?” he said, trying to sound like he was reprimanding his younger brother in front of Todomatsu.

The youngest scrunched his little nose up, taking the bait. “Yeah! You don’t want mom or dad to find out, do you?” He giggled behind his phone before exiting to the parlor, slipping on his shoes then leaving the house. He had some business to take care of today anyways and he originally thought he had time to spare but decided to instead arrive early to his arrangement.

Ichimatsu gave Osomatsu a grateful look before silently taking the cat presented to him and laying it on his chest so they can both resume their napping.

Throughout the week, Osomatsu couldn’t help but be pleased with how his brothers were getting along. The two seemed to be the ones that drifted the most apart from each other after high school, despite how close they used to be as children. Watching them sit together in comfortable silence or going out for a walk together made Osomatsu’s chest swell with pride. The strain in their relationship had loosened and the eldest Matsuno had hope that things were going to work out just fine.

 

 

It had been a week and a half since Osomatsu had saved Karamatsu from his mirror and found out about his and Ichimatsu’s powers. So, today Osomatsu wanted to treat his little brothers on their job well done on not going power crazy and killing everyone in Akatsuka Prefecture.

“Pachinko~! Pachinko~!” he sang while walking with a skip to his step to the newly opened Pachinko parlor along with Karamatsu, who was the only one that agreed to play with him. Ichimatsu said he had promised to hang out with Jyushimatsu that day (“We’re gonna do ‘the thing’ and we don’t skip it.”) Choromatsu said he was too busy looking for any places hiring nearby, and Todomatsu was the only honest one by dryly saying he just didn’t want to go.

No matter! Karamatsu was not only willing to join Osomatsu for the day, but he was also the most generous out of his little brothers and would give his precious _big brother_ money once he runs out. Score!

He continued to sing his good luck song while Karamatsu followed behind him in “cool silence” as he called it, although when Osomatsu turned around to walk backwards he could see Karamatsu checking his corners quickly to see if anyone was admiring him.

He kept up his backwards trek while trying to get Karamatsu so sing the good luck song so they can both win big when he felt his back bump into something hard. Catching himself from falling backwards, the first Matsuno spun around to see what he had knocked over when he felt large, rough hands grasp his shoulders and pinned him hard against the adjacent wall.

“Why don’t ya watch where ya goin’, huh?” The older man asked, breath reeking of cigars that made Osomatsu’s head swim for a moment. Osomatsu looked over his assailant’s shoulder to see two other men standing behind him, one that was fairly large with multiple tattoos peeking out of his shirt collar on his neck while the other one was only a few inches taller than Osomatsu himself, cigarette still lit in his lips.

Karamatsu decided to step in before things got ugly, “Gentlemen, if you please,” He gently put his hand on the man holding Osomatsu to the wall but quickly drew his hands back when he received a harsh glare from the shorter man, raising his arms in the universal symbol of coming in peace. “My dear older _brother_ is rather clumsy and did not take notice of your presence behind him. If you like, we would be more than happy to apologize for any disruption and peacefully go about our day.” He bargained with the smoothest voice he could muster to hide the fear he felt. It was a good thing he was such a great actor, he thought.

The smaller male scoffed before releasing his hold on Osomatsu none-too-kindly. “Yes, of course. But,” He stepped out a leg, showing off a pair of rather expensive loafers to the brothers. “You must beg for my forgiveness on your hands and knees while kissing my shoes.” The men behind him snickered while he smirked at the Matsunos.

The two stood stunned, Osomatsu balling his fists as his ears burned red with embarrassment. Karamatsu touched his arm to get his attention, whispering so the older men wouldn’t hear him, “Please, _brother_ , do not let there be bloodshed today.” Seeing the pleading look in his younger brother’s eyes, Osomatsu relaxed his fists and sighed, stepping down to kneel before the ring leader of the small gang before them.

Before any comments were made that he had to be on _both_ hands and knees to be forgiven, Osomatsu quickly shot up like a bullet and gave the fancy man an uppercut to the jaw, knocking him backwards and onto his back. The man’s lackeys looked first at their fallen leader, then to Osomatsu, then back to their leader, who was slowly sitting up again. “How about you guys just kiss my ass instead!” The red Matsuno shouted, giving the three men a thumbs down. Karamatsu pinched the bridge of his nose under his shades in agitation before quickly going into a defensive pose, ready for a fight.

And a fight did come—the large man with tattoos broke out of his trance first and lunged towards Osomatsu, only to be blocked by his identical brother and dealt a hard jab at his ribs. The man nearly doubled over in pain when Karamatsu grabbed him by the upper arm and suddenly the man’s world became upside as he was flipped, landing with a loud _THUD_ on his spine on the concrete. He writhed in pain so Karamatsu left him to check on Osomatsu.

His older brother was holding his own against his opponent; the man with the cigarette swung his arms sloppily, hoping to land a hit while Osomatsu dodge each and every fist as if it was a game, dancing around on his toes and landing merciless kicks to his assailant. Out of the six Matsuno brothers, Osomatsu and Karamatsu were by far the best fighters. Being the oldest made it almost mandatory to be able to overpower your siblings in a fight and being six rowdy boys it was almost inevitable that there was a scuffle or two in their youth.

Making sure the downed man below him was alright (he had no idea how strong he is now so he did not want to accidentally kill someone), Karamatsu suddenly froze when he saw the shorter man from earlier stand quickly, pulling out something from his coat pocket, a quick _flick!_ noise accompanying it. The man fighting Osomatsu saw his boss stand and smirked, grabbing tightly onto Osomatsu’s wrists and holding his steady. Osomatsu struggled and tried to kick and bite his way out of his imprisonment, failing (again) to notice the man behind him, rushing towards the two with a switchblade pulled out, thirsty for his blood.

Without a second thought Karamatsu felt his legs sprint forward, faster than he’s ever been before in his life, and was between his older brother and the armed man within moments. He suddenly felt a small amount of pressure on his chest, his body moving back a few inches from the other man’s momentum. It didn’t take long for the pain to blossom like the blood on his hoodie, it hurt, it hurt so much—

He punched the man with all of his might and quickly snatched Osomatsu away from the cigarette man before running down the opposite direction, not even bothering to see if they were being followed. He didn’t slow down when he felt Osomatsu nearly trip twice over his own feet, begging Karamatsu to take it easy so he could catch up. He especially didn’t slow down when he heard the _clip-clop_ footsteps of expensive loafers running hot on their tail.

The group of men followed quickly behind them for a few blocks, gaining closer to the brothers with each passing building. They needed to disappear if they were going to escape and they needed to do it fast.

_Disappear…_

That was it! Karamatsu scanned his surroundings for any form of mirror or reflection or _anything_ that he could use. The gods must have smiled upon him today because he, miraculously, found an old, broken mirror next to a dumpster on the next block. The mirror sat innocently yet far enough away that the gang behind them would not see the two if they passed by.

Clinging tightly to Osomatsu, Karamatsu quickly pushed them both into the alleyway as he focused his power on both of them. Osomatsu cried out in surprise but it was cut off when a blue glow enveloped them both and they vanished.

The three men ran completely past the mirror, just as Karamatsu had hoped. Plan successful! He let out a quiet snicker when he saw the boss of the group had blood running down from his nostrils to his chin, messing up his nice suit. Oh, he hoped that hurt. The bloodied boss commanded something to his lackeys, pointing in different directions to find the brothers before they all split up, leaving the alley.

Once he was certain the coast was clear, Karamatsu focused and power again and pulled himself along with Osomatsu out of the mirror, both shaking from the strange feeling of passing through glass without the pain. Brushing his fringe out of his face, Karamatsu turned to ask if Osomatsu was okay. Before he could get the words out, however, Osomatsu was all over him, tugging his hoodie and applying pressure where the knife wound was.

“Kara, you’re hurt!” He said in a panic, pulling his hand back and gawking at the miniscule amount of blood that was attached to it. “Should we go to a hospital? How deep did he get you?” the panic made his voice go in a higher octave.

Surprised, Karamatsu stepped away from his worrying brother only to have him step forward again. “Ah, _brother_ ,” he began, only to be cut off by Osomatsu. “That bastard. I’ll kill him for hurting you.” He whispered the last part, his hands shaking where they were pressed to Karamatsu’s chest to help keep any more blood from coming out. Karamatsu gently pried his brother’s hands off of his chest. “Osomatsu nii-san,” He said softly, getting the other’s attention. The second born Matsuno removed the flap of cloth covering the wound and showed Osomatsu that it had already completely healed since the initial attack, only a mear scar took its place now. “I am a Conduit now, afterall.” He said solemnly.

Osomatsu’s face made an “O” shape as he staggered back, giving the younger some much needed space. Then he laughed; he laughed so hard he had to hold onto his ribs and was knelt over. Karamatsu didn’t know what to think of this display until Osomatsu spoke finally, “Oh man, I nearly forgot! Hehe, you really got me worried, Painfulmatsu.” He grinned, standing up at full height again. He rubbed the underside of his nose with his finger. “But hey, you saved my life, right? Can’t be all that bad. Thanks,” He tapped Karamatsu on the shoulder. “Let’s forget about Pachinko for today. I’d rather go home.”  He said, already leaving the area.

Silently, Karamatsu followed Osomatsu out of the alleyway and both of them retraced their steps back home, all the while unaware of the small audience that had seen the whole ordeal from the shadows.

“What a touching moment; makes me miss my own little brother,” said the large man with tattoos, sniffling at some unseen memory. It was cut short when the man with a bloodied nose gave him a quick jab to the ribs, jostling his already sore area. “Shut up! Didn’t you hear what he said? He’s a Bio-terrorist!” he hissed through gritted teeth. He sharply turned to his other colleague, who had long since lost his cigarette. “We gotta call in the DUPs; make ‘em clean up the garbage in this backwatered town.” He told him, pulling out his cellphone to a memorized number. The phone rang three times before someone answered, on the other line a woman’s voice spoke:

_“Hi thank you for calling the DUP hotline, do you have a Bio-terrorist incident to report?”_

The next evening had all six of the Matsuno’s home at the same time with a dangerous level of boredom. Todomatsu sat curled up on the couch, tapping away on his phone, talking to somebody on LINE. Jyushimatsu laid on the floor, staring at the ceiling with Ichimatsu who was re-wrapping his band aids (Osomatsu gave a good cover-up story about how he had cut his fingers while trying to help him cook lunch early that day, and since no one was there to say otherwise he went off without notice) and Choromatsu was flipping through his same book, _“How to Make Friends and Influence People”_. In Osomatsu’s opinion, it wasn’t working.  

Groaning on his spot on the couch, making sure to stretch his feet to annoy his baby brother and tickle his side, Osomatsu noisily smacked his lips to get everyone’s attention. “We should go do something!” He whined.

Choromatsu closed his book with a frown, “It’s almost ten o’ clock, nii-san. Most places are just closing up right now.” He said. Osomatsu pouted, turning to look at Choromatsu so that he knew he was pouting. He did and was not impressed, instead turning his back to his eldest brother coldly. Ahh, boring Chorofapinsky!

Osomatsu tried doing a role call to see what each brother wanted to do:

“Nothing really; I’m comfortable right now.” Todomatsu,

“Ah! Baseball!! OH, I missed it on television again, though.” Jyushimatsu,

“I don’t really care.” Ichimatsu,

Osomatsu sighed, Choromatsu obviously wanted to stay home too and read his book that gave him bad advice when he hear another voice suggest: “Why don’t we go to Chibita’s oden stand? It’s been a while, has it not?” Ah, he skipped Karamatsu. That’s strange, he didn’t even notice him there…

“Hey yeah, it’s been almost a week since we last saw him,” agreed Todomatsu, now sitting up straight, putting his phone down on the couch armrest.

Osomatsu grinned, “Then it’s decided! We eat Chibita’s food!” He, too, sat up. Everyone else was in quiet agreement; oden sounded good right about now, and Chibita always made the best. As they all stood to get ready for their somewhat free dinner, a loud knock came to their door. The house was silent for a few moments, the six unsure if they should answer the door or wait for their parents to answer it instead. Who knocks on someone’s door at ten o’ clock at night anyways?

The knocks came again but louder; whoever was out there was literally slamming their fist into the door, nearly slitting the wood. A voice from outside the door shouted:

“This is the Department of Unified Protection! Open the door immediately or we will have to use force!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback is always welcomed! i love see all of yalls comments even if i dont answer sometimes. ;;


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